ALLIANCE FOR
CITIZENS RIGHTS Presents the following on the proposed amendments to the
Alabama Constitution to be voted on November 2.

After
carefully studying these amendments, we have concluded that seven of the
eight amendments either erode citizen's rights to private property,
expand bureaucratic control through un-elected officials or increase
taxes. The Alliance for Citizen's Rights therefore strongly recommends
the following:

Following is a
detailed description of each Amendment as it appears on the ballot along
with the true purpose or purposes for which it was enacted.

Amendment 1 -
Economic development -- SB321

The following
description will be on the ballot:

"Proposing an
amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to authorize Baldwin
County and certain governmental entities within the county to have
certain powers for the promotion of economic and industrial development
in Baldwin County and the municipalities therein."

Our Comments:

This amendment
actually affects 18 Alabama counties and the municipalities therein -
approximately one third of the State. This is a huge expansion in
eminent domain powers. However, the description on the ballot states: "Baldwin
County and certain governmental entities within the county," clearly
this understatement is intended to mislead the public with the belief
that only a small area of Alabama will be affected.

Each
governmental entity within the 18 county area, acting "independently or
in cooperation with one or more" governments "in such counties"? "shall
each have" ?"full and continuing power" to: purchase, lease, or
otherwise acquire (eminent domain?), land.

Land acquired
by any of the preceding methods may be leased, sold, granted (given
away), exchanged, or otherwise conveyed "on terms approved by the
governing body of the county," or municipality in part or whole to "any
such project" or "any such person, firm or corporation, public or
private,"

The amendment
places only one restriction on local governments: "Nothing herein shall
authorize the counties named, or any municipality therein, to construct
residential or any other buildings for the purpose of lease or sale."
This stipulation does not prevent the construction of houses which could
be given away or through some fancy legal footwork sold to some
charitable interest - let the lawyer's imagination run with this one and
somebody's pocket will be lined.

Sections 93 &
94 of the Alabama Constitution prohibit government from lending or
granting (giving) money to businesses or individuals. Amendment 1
removes this prohibition.

This amendment
regarding eminent domain states: "This amendment shall not be construed
to grant any power of eminent domain in addition to that which may be
provided or otherwise by statute heretofore or hereafter enacted by the
legislature."

Property
purchased by governments in the 18 county area may be sold at a loss if
the county or municipality acknowledges the selling price at a "public
meeting," and publishes the following information 14 days prior to the
meeting in the largest circulation newspaper in the county:

acres to be
sold location, price per acre, the place where a map of the property
can be examined by the public.

If your
property is taken through condemnation the government must sell the
booty at the seizure price.

This is a huge
expansion in eminent domain powers.

Vote: NO

Amendment 2 -
Education -- HB587

The following
description will appear on the ballot:

"Proposing an
amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to repeal portions of
Section 256 of schools by race and repeal portions of Amendment 111
concerning constitutional construction against the right to education,
and to repeal Section 259, Amendment 90, and Amendment 109 relating to
poll tax."

Our Comments:

The proposed
amendment strikes racist language from the Constitution. The bill will
likely be sold to the public on this single issue. Hopefully, the
following will explain the more plausible purpose for this amendment.
The focus is on amendment 111, which obligates the State to provide an
education but falls short in acknowledging a citizen's right to an
education. If approved, the following will be stricken from the
Constitution.

"Nothing in
this Constitution shall be construed as creating or recognizing any
right to education or training at public expense, nor as limiting the
authority and duty of the legislature, in furthering or providing for
education, to require or impose conditions or procedures deemed
necessary to the preservation of peace and order."

Striking this
clause opens the door for lawsuits, likely supported by the "education
industry" and like-minded organizations, which would force the state to
declare that each citizen has a right to a government funded education.
Once this issue is settled, the "education industry" and organizations
that desire to see the "industry" grow can saddle the taxpayer with all
manner of fees, assessments and TAXES.

The
constitutional clause neither acknowledges nor denies the existence of a
"right" to education. The following description, which will appear on
the ballot, assumes that the "right" does exist. The verbiage indicates
the intent to sway the voter to acknowledge the existence of the
unestablished "right." A logical progression of thought would lead to
the following - which entity will be charged with administering the
education when the "right" is officially recognized, the "state" or
"parents"? Visualize a disgruntled child, who, with the aid of the state
or other entities sues his parents on the grounds that his "right" to
education was violated due to home schooling.

This amendment
will severely limit our citizen's control of education and taxation.

Vote: No

Amendment 3 - Local Legislation -- HB319

The following
will appear on the ballot:

"Proposing an
amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to authorize a county
commission of any county or any municipality therein to perform certain
actions for the purpose of economic and industrial development in the
county."

Our Comments:

By granting
the following this amendment affects every county and municipality in
the state.

With taxpayer
dollars government may purchase or by other means acquire (eminent
domain):

"lease"
"sell" "grant" (give away) "exchange or" "otherwise convey" all or
part of the acquired interest or property "to any individual, firm,
corporation, or other business entity, public or private, including any
industrial development board or other public corporation or authority
heretofore or hereafter created by the county or the municipality?"

Government may
also lend its credit, or grant (give) the taxpayers money "and things of
value to any individual, firm, corporation, or other business entity,
public or private, for the purpose of promoting the economic and
industrial development of the county or the municipality." Government
must announce such actions at a public meeting and publish details in
the local newspaper seven days prior to the meeting.

Government
may, by using private property as collateral, incur debt not to exceed
50% of the assessed value of taxable property within its boundaries.
Assessed value is determined by the "State"

Sections 93 &
94 of the Alabama Constitution prohibit government from lending or
granting (giving) money to businesses or individuals. Amendment 3
removes this prohibition.

Drastically
increases the potential tax burden on Alabama citizens.

Vote: No

Amendment 4 -
Shrimp and Seafood Industry -- HB268

"Proposing an
amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide for the
promotion of shrimp and seafood."

Our Comments:

We, at the ACR,
believe that this bill begins the process of placing the shrimp and
seafood industry under the authority of the legislature by stating, "The
legislature, by general law, may provide for the promotion of the
production, distribution, improvement, marketing, use, and sale of
shrimp and seafood." Emphasis added.

If the seafood
industry, in whole or in part, wishes to fund a campaign to promote
their product, we feel that it would be far better for them do so
without governmental entanglement.

However, in
the interest of fairness we should state that other conservative groups
feel that if the shrimp industry wants this program and are willing to
risk exposing themselves to such controls they should be allowed to do
so. We therefore leave the decision to the individual voter and make no
recommendation on this amendment.

No
Recommendation.

Amendment 5 -
County and Municipal Government -- HB591

The following
will appear on the ballot:

"Relating to
the City of Trussville in Jefferson and St Clair, Counties, proposing an
amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to authorize the City
of Trussville to annex certain property; to provide for public school
purposes in the City of Trussville; and to provide for the rate of levy
of the tax and the manner of conducting elections with respect to the
tax."

Our Comments:

The amendment
authorizes the city of Trussville the power to annex areas in St. Clair
County without a vote of the people. The last paragraph of section one
voids amendment 460 of the Alabama Constitution, which stipulates, "Any
municipality that was not located wholly or in part within the
boundaries of St. Clair county prior to January 1, 1985, shall not annex
any territory within St. Clair county without the approval of the
electorate of St. Clair County expressed in a vote on the issue of said
annexation."

Vote: NO

Amendment 6 -
Crenshaw County
Local Legislation -- HB705

The following
will appear on the ballot:

"Relating to
Crenshaw County,
proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to
repeal, effective beginning the next term of office of the Judge of
Probate of Crenshaw County, Constitutional Amendment No. 496, which
provides for the judge of probate to receive the same salary as the
district judge in the county."

Our Comments:

The amendment
removes the salary cap for the probate judge in Crenshaw County, which
is tied to the salary of the district judge for that county. With no
written salary cap the probate judge could receive a substantial salary
increase.

Vote: No

Amendment 7 - Macon County
Local Legislation -- HB526

The following
will appear on the ballot:

"Relating to
Macon County, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of
1901, to allow the Legislature, by local law, to authorize the Macon
County Commission to levy a tax on the sale of beer, all tobacco
products and liquor or wine and to provide for the collection and
distribution of the proceeds of any tax levied by an such local act."

Our Comments:

Expands the
State legislature's authority over "all tobacco products and liquor" in Macon
County. In order to levy a tax on tobacco and liquor, the Macon County
Commission must first acquire approval from the state legislature. This
violates the 1901 Constitution prohibition on the "evils" of "local law"
legislation, a well-founded concept of the 1901 Constitution, which
holds that laws should be uniform throughout the State.

Vote: No

Amendment 8 -
Distribution Of Taxes -- HB657

The following
will appear on the ballot:

Proposed
Statewide Amendment No. 8

"Proposing an
amendment to Amendment 93 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as
amended by Amendment 354 to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to
authorize the Legislature to levy an excise tax in lieu of ad valorem
taxes on designated motor vehicles, and provide for the proceeds of the
excise tax to be distributed to those entities currently or hereafter
authorized to receive ad valorem taxes on motor vehicles. (Proposed by
Act 2004-537)"

Our Comments:

Typically the
tenets of a proposed amendment to the Constitution are contained within
a single bill passed by the legislature. The preceding 7 amendments are
examples of the common procedure. Thus reading the bill that proposes
the amendment to the Constitution is all that is normally required to
understand the amendment's fine print. Amendment 8 is the exception to
this rule.

HB657, four
pages in length, would normally be the depository for the details
regarding Amendment 8. It provides the following information:

The
legislature may require the owners of various types of vehicles to pay
an "excise tax." Revenue derived from the "excise tax" will "be
distributed as provided by legislative act."1

If approved by
the people, the revenue and the authority to spend the money on any
project will alter Amendment 354 of the Alabama Constitution. Amendment
354 provides that revenue derived from vehicles and related sources,
i.e. gasoline, will primarily support the upkeep and maintenance of
roads. A portion is designated for education.

HB657
references HB658, a bill passed during the 2004 regular session of the
legislature. Twenty-three pages in length, HB658 provides more than 8
pages of meaningless grammatical changes to current Alabama law Section
40-9-1. This section of Alabama
law specifies what property may or may not be taxed. This type of tax is
commonly referred to as an ad valorum tax.

Following the
grammatical changes on page 9, two new paragraphs are inserted.
Paragraph 27 directs that "all truck trailers or tractor trailers or
semi-trailers will "be licensed".

Paragraph 28
states that "all trucks and truck tractors," with a few exceptions,
"shall be separately valued and assessed with the local tax assessing
official as personal property".

Page 13 of
HB658, when approved by the passage of Amendment 8, will permit the
insertion of Section 40-12-305 and 40-12-307. Section 305 lists a
scheduling fee for an excise tax on trailers. Section 307 specifies the
timetable and details regarding the collection of the revenue. HB658, as
currently written, mandates that revenue collected will be dispersed
through out the State on a prorated basis.

Remember that
if Amendment 8 is passed the Legislature will have the authority to set
the rate of collection and direct how this money is spent. In times
past, this has been called a slush fund. Section 5, page 21 of HB658,
states that passage of Amendment 8 is required before HB658 can become
law.

Vote: No

1. HB658 page
22 line 3

If Alabama
truly had a two party system or a STATESMAN in either party they would,
in some manner, inform the public of the travesty that is being
perpetrated on the taxpayers in Alabama!!